Chronocidal
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Everything posted by Chronocidal
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I might be slightly exaggerating, but that seems akin to asking someone to build you a body kit to upgrade a 1960 Volkswagen Beetle into a 2012 Laborghini. Shapeways isn't cheap, and ordering the number of parts required for that would be more expensive than shelling out to an ebay scalper to get a real one.
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I think the only thing different about them is the size of the center pin. Bandai actually embedded their hardpoints on the 171 further into the wings than Yamato does, having the forward and rear clips tab directly into the wing, but if you lay them side by side, the only apparent difference is that Bandai uses a much smaller center pin. I would bet that Bandai's stuff would clip to Yamato's hardpoints without much trouble, but putting Yamato stuff on a 171 would be tricky, because besides the center post being too big, the shape of the pylons might not fit into the recesses in the wing, and the clips won't be able to engage.
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I had thought Hasegawa released their 1/72 kits of those first, but I could be wrong.
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That's pretty much why I've given up hunting down anything of Bandai's for pre-orer. I only camped the YF-29 re-release because it happened to go up at a reasonably acessible time (11 pm). NY may mark things up slightly, but I think if you can get things at maybe $20-$30 over retail, it's worth the peace of mind not having to deal with this stupid bandai preorder circus.
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Well, assuming by "proper FB2012" you mean overall white, I don't think many people will go to those lengths, unless they never intend to transform it again. On the other hand, I just did a quick photo tweak to Kurisama's fighter mode pic above to turn the control surfaces white, and the nose tan, and it looks plenty awesome that way. You know what occurred to me though? I think this is the first time in history that Yamato has been the first to offer a mass produced version of any Macross fighter. All the other stuff they've made has been produced as at least a non-transforming kit in 1/72 or 1/100. I mean.. has there ever been a VF-4 produced that wasn't some limited production garage kit?
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Yeah, I tried that. Wasn't enough leverage to get the tabs to disengage, at least not before I decided that that much creaking sound couldn't be good for the shoulders. I mean, I guess it's really no reason to freak out, since once they're up, it's pretty simple to fix. Its just that you might find yourself having to chase down the shoulder covers if they fly off, and glue them back down. What concerns me is that this sort of thing just indicates that the molds are deteriorating. The shoulders have gotten harder to pop up on every new release, and when I finally did get mine to lift, the tabs had flash all over them.
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The only other possible way I could find to pry the shoulders up was by taking a screwdriver, and inserting it in the gap that shows above the arms when you remove the shield. You just have to accept that you're going to be damaging the arms while doing it. If you do that first though, you can shave down the tabs to let them release easier.
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Be really careful with the 19P's shoulders.. they can be a problem to unlock from the legs. Also, a bit jealous.. I got to the FedEx office literally 2 minutes after they closed, and couldn't pick up my HLJ shipment. So, my VF-4s will have to wait another day.
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That's just the thing though.. The shoulders would not lift. With my 19S, I was able to pop the shoulders up from the legs with a plastic spoon (didn't want to rip fingernails off trying it that way). When I tried that on the P, the spoon snapped in half, and all it did was break loose the right shoulder cover. It shouldn't do it anymore because I hacked off a portion of the clips with a razor blade, but those clips on the legs were holding WAY too tightly to the shoulders.
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Had the same thing happen with AmiAmi, and finally got my shipment from them yesterday, but I'm getting to where I just shell out for FedEx when I can, since HLJ offers that. The route from Japan to SoCal generally goes from Narita to Anchorage, then to Oakland, and finishes in Ontario CA, so you can bypass the mess of shipments going through L.A.
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Well there's two ways to look at this... On the one hand, yes, they're hiking the prices up according to demand. On the other, they still have them in stock, because people aren't so quick to grab them up at those prices. As long as they're better than ebay, I'll keep going there. The situation does make the entire "demand" thing seem a bit false though. I don't think the actual demand is anywhere near what it looks like from the pre-order sellout. It's just an illusion perpetrated by the scalpers who buy up the cheap ones quickly, hoping to resell them for a profit. They're not interested in owning the product at all, or there wouldn't be any left anywhere. Once the price hits a certain point, and their profit margin drops, they don't bother snapping them up, which leaves the people who actually want the items to pick up the crumbs. It's turning into a really weird study of economics and human greed. People are playing the collectors market like they do with stocks, hoping to buy low and sell high, and creating a false sense of scarcity, while Bandai sits up in it's fancy headquarters watching the markets scramble and fight over whatever number of products they decided to produce (reminds me of John Cleese's part in that movie Rat Race ). Unfortunately, we just happen to be the end users of an item that seems incredibly rare, but probably isn't, while scalpers attempt to profit off of the false sense of demand they've created. And sadly, it's probably working wonderfully.
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Sure, I can glue the shoulder back down again, but there's nothing to stop the glue from breaking loose again. It doesn't want to actually fit now, and has a tendency to pop up on its own. Problem is, there's nothing holding it down to the internal part of the shoulder, and the only surface available to lift the shoulder with is that upper piece. It needs that hinge pin in the tip so there's something solid actually keeping those pieces together.
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Well... speaking of design flaws.. I may drill out the shoulder pivots on my 19P so I can pin them like the fire valk... not so they open.. but so I don't send the freaking shoulders flying across the room trying to pull them up. <.< Yeah, I had to do some minor surgery on my 19P out of the box. The shoulders would NOT open. I know I recommended using a plastic spoon before.. yeah, that spoon snapped trying to pry up the shoulders on this one. I also am pissed that they cut corners and removed the actual hinge from the shoulder, because that metal pin would have done a great deal to keep the upper halves of the shoulders attached when I was trying to pry up the shoulders by them. My right shoulder top is now completely loose, because I popped the glue. I finally got them open by prying with a screwdriver on the back inside of the shoulders, pressing against the upper arms, which now have a big gouge where the tip pressed. I promptly shaved off most of those stupid tabs on the legs, which seem to have gotten bigger with each successive release. Now the shoulders actually open without tools.
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Well, I gouged the heck out of the underside of the right pack trying to pry it apart, but no sucess. Those suckers are glued shut like crazy at the rear. You can tighten it up a little by sliding the pack forward some, but it shouldn't be able to do that. It only works because that sliding plate is loose. Also noticed while pulling the thing apart though... the "screw" holding the plate into its track isn't a screw... it's like a flat headed metal pin. So, I don't know if there's any way to tighten it anyway. It looks threaded into the plate, but there's no way to turn it.
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Oh, for loose joints like that, you might be able to do a few things. A quick trick for something that small might be that you could stuff a layer of saran wrap into the joint to stiffen it up. More extreme trick would be to put some super glue on the ball joint, and move it around while it dries to firm up the joint a little.
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Ok, anyone know how to pry the back packs apart without destroying them? One of mine didn't get screwed together correctly, and flops around while in fighter mode because the plate that attaches to the valk is loose.
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Fortunately, those little bits don't seem necessary, since as long as the big pins stay in, they hold the wings on well enough. They just seem to be a way to keep the wing from flying off the instant you pull out the large pin, but the wings pivot around a low circular ring that won't really break.
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Only as long as you live in their target audience though. Anyway, one thing I AM very interested in is seeing if anyone can make some MDE or reaction missile mounts for the 171s now. Or, maybe it's time I figured out this Shapeways business for myself...
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Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim'
Chronocidal replied to fifbeat's topic in Anime or Science Fiction
I still love the story a friend of mine told me.. apparently he had the Inception soundtrack playing in the background while he took a nap. Cue the "BWOOOONGGGG" track. He snaps awake, freaking out, and falls out of bed. As for where it started, I do remember it in War of the Worlds, but I'd trace the idea itself clear back to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. For some reason, advanced civilizations and technology love loud "THRUMMM" sounds. -
I'm really perfectly alright not bothering with the VF-27, since I still have my original release, and I don't think the extra parts add anything to it really.. in fact, I suspect they'll just break the transformation. Aside from getting the RVF and YF-30, I think the rest of what I would ever consider buying from Bandai is going to be pre-order webshop exclusive stuff, which isn't that expensive by comparison, and won't be anything I have to worry about mashing the refresh button for on all these webshops. As for Yamato though.. I'm pretty much just waiting for a new YF-19, and that's it. If they come up with something amazing, I might buy it, but I'll probably wait for a sale. I've pretty much burned myself out this past year, and my closet of Macross boxes is getting too full to hold much more.
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Again?! What's the price up to now?
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I considered doing FedEx for my stuff, but noticed that their EMS price was $20 cheaper... figured the extra wasn't worth it this time around, since it won't be near holidays or anything when these come out.
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Those were some great times right there. But yeah, with this whole Shapeways thing working so well, I wonder if people would be interested in a set of leg add-ons to help the YF-21/VF-22 bulk up a little.
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So, the pile keeps growing... in the past month and a half, I've bought: 1. VF-19P and Super VF-17D from Amiami 2. VF-171 Armor Pack, VF-171CF, and YF-29 30th edition from NY 3. VF-19F, Fire Valk, Sound Booster, two super/strike sets, a VE-1, and a pair of VF-4s from HLJ Granted.. a few of those were paid for in advance a while ago.. but still. This is going to be the most epic unboxing week in history when my stuff gets here in the next few days.
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This is by far my most expensive winter ever. Fortunately... it's looking like after the RVF-25 , YF-30, and a potential YF-19 v.2, I think I have every valk I actually care about owning. (I'm actually saying this as a way to ensure that both Bandai and Yamato release a low-vis version of EVERYTHING shortly after I finish my collection. )